The Japanese and Chinese governments on June 8 officially started operating a bilateral maritime and aerial communication mechanism designed to avert unintended clashes between the Self-Defense Forces and the Chinese military. The mechanism includes enabling military ships and aircraft to directly communicate by radio at sea and in the air, establishing a hotline connecting senior defense officials by the end of this year and holding regular meetings between defense officials. Katsutoshi Kawano, Chief of the Joint Staff and the highest-ranking SDF officer, said at a press conference on June 7 that “This is extremely significant in that it will help prevent unexpected clashes.” The Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) and the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) currently directly communicate based on the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea, an international standard stipulating procedures for avoiding accidental clashes. Although the Air Self-Defense Force and the PLAAF have no official agreement on communications between them, they do communicate at their discretion. There have been confirmed cases of Chinese military aircraft not responding to SDF radio messages during encounters in the sky above territorial waters around Japan. While the communication mechanism will not involve any changes as to how this communication is conducted, it has become part of an agreement between the leaders of Japan and China and a senior Japanese Defence Ministry official said “The Chinese military will probably take it more seriously and abide by it.” This enhanced communication with the SDF looks set to make it much easier to confirm the intentions of flights and navigation routes taken by the Chinese military. The hotline, which will be the first established between Japanese and Chinese defense authorities, is a centerpiece of the communication mechanism.
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